Quiescent
by IndigoApples
Summary: Because when he sleeps, he dreams and when she wakes, she's alive. Knuckles/Tikal drabble


**I was suddenly hit with this idea, and I couldn't stop writing. This is the result.**

**I don't own anything related to SEGA and whatnot; Kthax**

_**Because when he sleeps, he dreams**_

He smiles when they're around.

They're his friends, so of course he should smile and be happy: and really he is.

But when they leave, the smiling stops and the loneliness returns.

He's gotten better at dealing with it over the years. He's had plenty of years to learn **how** to deal with it.

But every time he watches their retreating backs, it's a constant reminder that he is the _**last** _one, that he was** _left _**behind, that he is **_stuck_** and unable to _**move on **_like the rest of them.

**He is alone.**

So he **waits**, and **waits** and **waits**, until the next friend or villain comes to the island to visit or steal.

And when that does happen, the result in the end is the same.

Knuckles the Echidna ends up **alone**.

It does not matter if his friends come to see him, or when the villains pick fights for greed, nor does it matter how many crazy adventures he becomes a part of: he'll always have to go back to the Floating Island when it's over.

And he'll return to _**wait**_, and _**guard**_, and _**breathe**_ and _**stand**_ and _**stay**_ and he'll have to _**live **_and _**deal**_ because life isn't fair and he's got stupid rock to look after.

But the Master Emerald isn't a stupid rock; but that doesn't stop him from getting mad at it and thinking so. He can't run away. He can't abandon it. It's his birthright: He was born to protect it and it's his entire _**life**_! He cannot escape it!

He can't. He just can't!

So he waits, and guards and stays, and remains eternally tied.

And then the loneliness will creep, and bleed, and crawl into him.

It's suffocating and sometimes it becomes too much: the pressure builds.

He can't hide it. He can't deal.

Tonight is one of the those nights: It becomes too much.

And he screams, and yells, and rages, and **resents **and **hates****!**

**Why is he alone? Why did **_**they **_**leave him alone?! ****WHY DID HE END UP ALONE?!**

It's really all the same question, but he's desperate for an answer.

So he kicks and swings and everything within him just explodes!

Fury, contempt and exasperation come **out** and **out** and **out** until he exhausts himself.

And then it's over.

And he sinks...

And Knuckles is still very much alone.

He is empty. This is the part he hates the most, and tonight is probably the lowest he's ever been.

But then he suddenly senses it.

The _**power**_, the _**pull**_ and the_** calling: **_**The Master Emerald.**

He watches and **_feels_** as color bursts within the Master Emerald and shines.

Then suddenly, he see's **her. **

**She's **here and is standing right in front of him.

And she's crying.

Knuckles can only stare at her as he pulls himself up.

**Tikal is here and she is crying.**

The girl stares at him through her tears and starts apologizing over and over.

_**"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."**_

And she continues, even when he approaches her in disbelief.

Still she cries and cries, and he soon realizes why: She's crying **for** him and it's heart breaking.

In the end, he can't stop himself when he cries along with her.

**000**

He doesn't see her again until the next time he closes his eyes.

She appears to him in sleep, and he dreams of her and the world before her time stopped.

Tikal leads him as he follows and he is amazed and full with seeing everyone **alive.**

But no one is really alive.

He's asleep and dreaming and Tikal is allowing him into her memories because she wants to give him something.

Knuckles doesn't care that none of it will real for him. He welcomes the illusion because he's been ravenous just for this.

So he listens as Tikal tells him about this life and educates him on what he's never learned.

His lost people, the culture, and the unity of it all. It's exhilarating.

He falls in love with it.

And then when it's morning and he's awake, his first thought is that he can't wait to fall asleep.

**000**

Tikal continues to come and she offers him the life before the end.

And Knuckles accepts, because he wants the chance to know what it's like to have people: to be a part of something so much bigger than just himself.

And he continues to dive in, and** take** and **take** and **take **in as much as he can get.

But he always wakes with the desire for more.

His life outside isn't bothering him as much. He's now too focused on dreaming to let it bother him, and he starts to **wait**, **wait**, and **wait** until sleep comes.

And when it does come, he prepares to take again.

**000**

Knuckles feels like he's floating.

He meets so many of his fellow people, and he can't but feel like he's gaining some part of him that he lost long ago.

No, not lost: because you can't **lose** what you've **never** had.

But every smile, every welcome, and every farewell makes his heart warm.

He's starting to feel not as empty, and he doesn't plan on stopping until that void in himself is filled.

And Tikal can only watch on, as contrition and happiness mix, because with every smile he gives, she always feels as if none of them deserve to ever see it.

She keeps the shame to herself, as Knuckles continues to float and shine.

She won't ruin this for him.

She'll try her hardest not too.

_**Dream, dream, dream**_

**A/N: The original piece was actually longer than I anticipated. So, I'm breaking it into 3 parts, because really, reading a short multi-chapter thing is less intimidating then reading a long-ass drabble (which defeats the purpose of it being a drabble in the first place).**

**Now I'll admit this is a little out of character for Knuckles but hey, the guy is stuck on a floating island in the sky all by himself when he's not helping Sonic save the world or whatever. So why not expand on it while adding some self angst to the mix?**

**Any questions you have, ask away, because they'll probably be answered in the later parts, and if not, I'll try to include the answers. **

**Also, no, I'm not going to include any direct references to Shade or the ****Nocturnus Clan. I haven't played ****Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, so I'd rather not add things I know absolutely nothing about.**


End file.
